Don't forget "honor among thieves"

A feature on Salon today discusses a supposedly well-known gossip journalist-slash-barnacle who calls himself Perez Hilton. The story is that a growing distaste for the man's methods led celebrity photographers to "turn their lenses to the ground" when he passed by, thereby performing what must be the first documented instance of paparazzi showing any moral existence whatsoever.

The notion that even paparazzi have their limits reminded me of the story from earlier this week which CNN headlined Paris Hilton (no relation to Perez Hilton) Defends Britney's 'Partying Ethics'. This, too, was a novel idea -- that scantily-clad post-adoloscents with more money than underpants still follow a code of some sort.

The question is, how do these moral codes compare to other dubious sets of rules? In this exercise, rank the moral codes in order, with the most honorable and durable at the top.

( ) Britney's Partying Ethics
( ) The Uniform Code of Military Justice
( ) Rules followed by Republican-led Congressional ethics committees
( ) Omerta
( ) Establishment white men protecting each other
( ) Paparazzi in a snit
( ) Presidential Oath of Office
( ) Green Lantern's Oath
( ) California Bar Code of Ethics (for lawyers)
( ) EULA Agreement on Microsoft software